Circus elephant on the run in Cork was attempting to flee a bath – VIDEOS

Three-tonne elephant, Baby, who made a dash for it on Tuesday evening, in Blackpool, County Cork, has made the press around the globe.

Sky News Australia reported that Baby escaped from her handlers after refusing to take a bath. The 40-year-old elephant made its way through a car park towards a Costa coffee shop.

The coffee shop’s manager said the elephant did not look at all happy and called the experience an “intense few minutes.”

Egle Vilmaite, manager of the Costa Coffee shop, told Ireland's RTE News: "He was running around on his own and then you could see the guys from the circus running around, and the elephant wasn't happy."

The Courtney Brothers circus spokesperson Michelle Courtney told Dublin’s Evening Herald that the elephant is one of the stars of their show and is usually a docile animal with a “wonderful, gentle temperament”.

She said, “Handlers were with Baby at all times and she was simply trying to retrace the route that she had taken in the Blackpool parade the day before.”

Eyewitness Paul Dunbar recorded the footage which went viral on YouTube and is now being used by news companies around the world.

Dunbar said “It was around 4.45pm on Tuesday evening when one of my colleagues noticed an elephant beside the coffee shop. "Initially, we didn't know what was happening."